


We Made It

by marigold_scented_candles



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Melancholy, Sad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-03
Updated: 2016-05-03
Packaged: 2018-06-06 03:20:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6735955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marigold_scented_candles/pseuds/marigold_scented_candles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Nino saw Adrien, sometimes he saw the image of a marble statue, riddled with cracks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally only going to be a retelling of origins, with Nino's views and his impressions of Adrien over that first year, but it grew into a monster because of reasons.

Nino had to admit, his first impression of Adrien hadn’t been the best. But in his defense, the first person Adrien had said hello to was Chloe, and all the older students had started fawning because he was famous and he was a model.Frankly, Nino had been expecting Chloe two point zero. Spoiled and rude, but this time with a strangely adorable ( but subtle) flush he to his cheeks. The bottom line was that anyone who associated with Chloe was not to be liked. She was the queen bee of being an absolute bitch. There was no way around it. 

Hence,when the new guy had been placed next to him, Nino didn’t bother saying hello. He wasn’t becoming Sabrina two point zero if he could help it. In hindsight it was cold and rude, but he hadn’t cared. Nothing that Chloe could consider a best friend was worth getting to know, right? He’d ignored the sad little sigh that the stupidly attractive blonde had let out upon sitting. Nino even steadfastly refused to make special note of those big green eyes focusing on the table with an amount of sadness that really didn’t fit in with their age group. 

And then came the incident that changed the course of events. The gum incident. Nino hadn’t paid too much attention at first. After all, a single protest did not a hero make. But then Marinette refused to believe that he’d been trying to help at all. So again that stupidly attractive blond was sitting next to him, eyes trained on the wooden table in front of them. 

That was when Nino noticed that he just looked so damn _sad_. He’d given up on clearing his name. He’d refused to throw Chloe under the bus, even though he would’ve been perfectly justified in doing so. The definition of being stuck between a rock and a hard place. The poor kid was crumpling in on himself like a wet piece of paper and Nino couldn’t help but think of a marble statue of some ancient beauty, filled with a delicate spiderweb of cracks and about to give way. All he could think was that he didn’t want to see it shatter into pieces. 

“ Why didn’t you tell Marinette that Chloé was the one who put the gum on her chair?” 

“Because… I’ve known Chloe since I was a little kid… I know she’s not in the right, but she’s the only friend I have” Oh good lord above. _**She** was his only friend?_ No wonder he’d kept quiet. She was the only damn person he knew! Little did he know that telling her off would make him friends with every person in the class. 

Well. He had to change that. No one deserved to only have Chloé in the world. 

“ I’m Nino… You need to make new friends dude” Oops. Had he said the needing new friend’s bit aloud? Oh well. Adrien didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he seemed relieved. Beyond relieved. His handshake was firm and warm, and his fingers were more calloused than Nino had expected , considering that he was a well known model. 

Looking back, it really was an innocuous moment. A simple handshake. If he’d told his fourteen year old self where it would lead, fourteen year old him would’ve died laughing, because there was no way in hell that he was into guys, first of all, and second, sure Adrien was a model and that meant he was objectively attractive but that didn’t mean that they were gonna get hitched. 

That day he just saw that cracking statue, and he wanted to save it. He wanted to keep that boy standing, he wanted to see smirks and smiles out of that kid. He wanted to hear laughter. Of course he didn’t think all of that in those first few minutes. That was his impression over that whole first year. 

Every once in awhile he could see those cracks spreading. Getting deeper and spreading wider. It was always more noticeable when he saw Adrien dismissing of his own needs. When Adrien had simply shook his head and sighed when his father refused to permit a birthday party, because that was how his father _was_ and ‘ there was no use fighting it, but thanks for trying anyways’. It physically hurt that his best friend was used to being unacknowledged for all the effort he put into his life, into making his father happy. Adrien did things he didn’t want to to make that man smile but it never seemed to work.

It broke Nino’s heart. 


	2. Chapter 2

As they went into their first year of Lycée, the cracks got even worse. Akuma started attacking their new classmates, Adrien kept modeling, kept mysteriously missing class, and the circles under his eyes got covered with makeup. People pretended not to notice ( or maybe they really didn’t. Adrien had ridiculous make up skills) , but Nino refused to sit idly by. 

_“ What’s going on with you bro?”_ Adrien had looked so surprised. Like no one had ever asked him a question like that in his life. Hell. That was probably the case. Adrien was a fake-smiling pile of god damn sunshine. He had to be, for the sake of his own sanity. He had to be his own source of light. 

_” Um… I had a late night photo shoot last night?”_

_“ The kind that leave bruises on your arms?”_

Looking back, Nino had risked their entire relationship with that single line. Nino was pushing into Adrien’s private life, into his space and into something that was being kept secret. Adrien could’ve pushed him away. But no. He’d just given one of his stupidly bright smiles. 

_“ Nino I’m fine. You’re just being a worry wort”_ And then it’d dissolved into teasing about how Nino was turning into a mother hen in his old age. Something Nino denied. Mother hens were like Rose, who worried over everyone. Nino only worried over Adrien. Then they’d started talking about hens in general, and then other mother animals, and somehow the conversation devolved into something about how screwed up it was that mother turtles left their eggs on the beach and didn’t even bother trying to protect them from what could eat them when they hatched. 

Adrien hadn’t been fine. Surprising, right? Nino did his best to see through Adrien’s smiles, but damn the boy was well trained and charming as fuck. Nino was just as guilty as falling under his spell as anyone else. He’d responded to Adrien’s teasing, he’d let Adrien lead the conversation wherever he’d wanted to. By the time Adrien said goodbye and hopped into the car that his father still insisted on sending, Nino had forgotten all about being worried for his friend in the first place.

There was no way that Adrien was in over his head, right? 

Right? 

Wrong. He’d been three thousand percent wrong. And he’d barely even realized how bad it was until a few days after Hawkmoth had been turned into the police. At first his identity had been kept from the public, assumedly for security reasons. That was the day that he discovered Adrien tucked in an isolated corner of the library, dozing and venerable. His hair was glowing like a halo, but the oddly full backpack by his feet said something was off. 

That was the day the statue had shattered.

Eventually Adrien confessed who Hawkmoth was. Gabriel Agreste. 

“ Basically, I’m as good as orphaned” That explained the backpack. That probably held everything Adrien had in the world at that moment. Nino learned later that it was mostly family mementoes. Photo albums and a few things of his mother’s that Adrien couldn’t bear to part with.


	3. Chapter 3

It took a long time to reconstruct that beautiful marble statue. Well… Maybe that wasn’t a good way of putting it. Nino didn’t magically make him better, because that wasn’t how romance worked and it wasn’t how the world worked. 

Adrien built _himself _back up from scratch. It was amazing to watch really. It’d taken a lot of tears. A lot of late nights and adjustments and work. But they made it through the rest of Lycée, and University. They’d both gotten jobs, and they’d both joined the workforce. There were nights when Adrien wasn’t okay, and Nino had learned that the best he could do during those nights was hope that dawn helped ease whatever thoughts were swirling around in his best friend’s mind. Stroking his hair was also pretty effective. It’d taken years and years, and it’d taken Adrien taking his last name.__

They weren’t perfect. Adrien had his stupid little secrets, and his brooding and a near pathological need to be Chat Noir, even though his ‘adult’ obligations were mounting, and really, he didn’t have time to be patrolling the streets anymore. They were both stubborn, and sometimes Nino didn’t take things seriously enough. Their apartment was tiny, and sometimes ends didn’t quite meet.

But here they were. Adrien was sprawled across his lap, snoring softly. Nino was working on a mix and using his husband’s back for a desk. The set up was a little warm for his taste, but hey, he could just wake up Adrien up if he really wanted to, right? 

They’d made it through in the end. _That was what mattered._


End file.
